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The cries of a baby broke the relative silence in the apartment.
Fortunately, Reigen was used to it by now. He sat up from the bed and stretched briefly, his eyes going to the display on his alarm clock. 1:33 AM, October 10th.
"Want me to get her?" Serizawa asked, propped up on one elbow despite still being half-asleep. "I've got her. She's probably hungry," Reigen said. Then, he went to the small nursery on the other end of the hall. He picked up the small infant who was wailing, her crying going down a few decibels after recognizing her father's embrace.
"What's going on, Natsu? Hm?" he asked, going through his usual checklist of possibilities. Sure enough, she was hungry. So, Reigen let his muscle memory take over to prepare a bottle. He could probably do it in his sleep by now, which was fortunate, considering how much sleep he'd lost.
"There we go. Eat up, kiddo," he said once Natsumi was settled in his arms, contentedly suckling from her bottle. He sat down in the rocking chair in the corner, letting his mind wander back to what he'd noticed earlier. It was officially his birthday.
He was thirty-four now, and he hadn't imagined the day starting like this. Primarily because this was his first birthday as a father. Sure, he acted as a father figure to the kids who'd worked for him at Spirits and Such. He didn't get to see them as often as he used to, now that Mob, Teru, and Tome were in college while Ritsu and Shou finished their senior year of high school. But acting as a surrogate was completely different than caring for the complete surprise to both Reigen and Serizawa that was Natsumi.
Reigen hadn't even known he was pregnant; he'd just accepted that he needed to use one less notch on his belt and not given much thought otherwise to the slight weight gain. That was, until he'd given birth to Natsumi in the small bathroom of Spirits and Such. Looking back on it, it was one of the most terrifying experiences of his life, ranking well above his interactions with the paranormal. But once the shock had passed, the doctors had given him a clean bill of health, and the pediatrician stated that Natsumi had been born happy and healthy, neither Reigen or Serizawa had felt happier.
In the present, the now four-month-old had emptied out her bottle. Reigen shifted her onto his shoulder and began patting her back. He wasn't quite sure if he would've been able to properly care for her without the support he had now that he'd sorely lacked around his previous birthdays.
Serizawa, for all of his anxieties, had jumped headfirst into being a father, even if he had virtually no idea what to do. Then again, Reigen wasn't much more experienced with childcare. He sometimes looked after his nephew, sure, but that wasn't the same as looking after a child of his own.
Fortunately, between Serizawa's mother and Reigen's sister, the couple had received enough advice to at least get their bearings as parents. Looking around, the nursery was still somewhat bare, but it was enough.
The reactions from the other kids when they'd been told of the new addition to their found family was also well-appreciated.
Mob had found the infant so adorable that a few of the nearby objects had begun to float. Ritsu, despite the annoyance he still felt when faced with Reigen's shenanigans, conceded and agreed that Natsumi would be well-loved. Teru had quickly assumed the role of doting older brother; after all, Reigen had been his only parents for multiple years, in ways except legally. Tome had already brought a few plush aliens and baby blankets with alien designs on them, insisting that she would take Natsumi to see the aliens once she was older. Shou had joked that one day, Serizawa and Reigen would find their daughter floating on the ceiling.
And admittedly, Reigen did wonder if Natsumi would inherit her other father's abilities. He really had no way to determine if they were genetic. He knew Shou and his father were espers, but so were Mob and Ritsu, and the Kageyama parents didn't have any sort of spiritual powers.
Well, Reigen supposed that was a later issue. Right now, Natsumi was fast asleep once more. Her head was nuzzled into Reigen's neck, soft black curls lightly tickling his skin. He carefully laid her back down into the crib, watching her sleep for another moment before going back to his room.
The late hour began to catch up with him once he got back into bed, and he began to drift off once more. Serizawa pulled him close to his substantially bigger and warmer body. "Happy birthday, 'Taka," Serizawa murmured. Reigen smiled slightly as he fell asleep.
This was perhaps the perfect unofficial start to his birthday.